God of War the Newest Video Game Movie

warpwhistle writes "Sony Computer Entertainment's God of War is the latest videogame property to be snatched up by Hollywood studios. Universal announced today that it has secured the rights to the game, and has tied producers Charles Roven and Alex Gartner to the project. Gartner has produced such films as Batman Begins, Three Kings and Twelve Monkeys, while Roven produced Out of Time and Barbershop 2."

Comments

Grumble.

[grub]

Has Hollywood any originality left? Lately all they seem to release are rehashes of Japanese horror movies, video game movies or remakes of other movies & TV series.

Quick: name the last 5 original Hollywood movies you've seen.

Re:Grumble.

[MyDixieWrecked]

Lately all they seem to release are rehashes of Japanese horror movies, video game movies or remakes of other movies & TV series.

let us not forget movies made from books and comic books and sequals to previous successes.

Re:Grumble.

[steelfood]

The thing about games is that things tend to get better with every sequel. Engines get more realistic, gameplay gets more complex, scripting/modding tools get better, etc. Sometimes, sequels are only vaguely based off of the original, in terms of storyline. Sometimes, the sequel is a completely different story that's using the name of the original as a form of marketing by association e.g. Final Fantasy.

On the other hand, movie sequels are more likely to be the next 2-1.5 hours of the first part. Some of them can't even bother with a new story and do no more than rehash the first one. The equivalent in video games would be releasing a sequel that just adds some more missions. That, in the video game industry, is called an expansion pack, and they are nowhere near as widely-received as sequels, though often as or more prevelant. As for actualy video game sequels that are really just rehashes of the first game, they tend not to be so popular, though fandom and prerelease hype skews the reality of that statement somewhat.

But all this highlights a fundamental difference between video games and movies. Movies are one-dimensional. The story happens while you watch. Video games are multi-dimensional. You control the story, you control the events, and you're watching it. So a video game sequel has much more room for improvement, and such improvements happen to be expected of a sequel.

Re:Hmm...

[Golias]

Answer: Money.

What baffles me is why Hollywood keeps throwing cash at video-game-themed movies. They all stink on ice, and most of them lose money.

Resident Evil was a movie about Milla Jovovich's thighs, and for that reason alone it did well enough to warrant a sequel.

Likewise, Tomb Raider was a movie about Angelina Jolie's fake breasts.

Neither film had anything else going for it, and considering the outstanding shapes of Milla Jovovich's thighs and Angelina Jolie's real breasts (let alone the massive fake ones), one could argue that the video-game essense of these crappy movies probably dragged ticket sales down.

I mean, Milla Jovovich or Angelina Jolie... running around and shooting stuff... while showing off their wonderful thighs or breasts... How can you possibly make a dull, modestly profitable movie out of such a rock-solid formula for a blockbuster unless some other factor is utterly crippling the production???

Clearly, the video game adaptation is box-office poison.

The Game-Turned-Movie Genre

[Tyrsenus]

Let's just hope future games-turned-movies don't go the way of the Super Mario Brothers movie.

I wouldn't mind seeing a Half Life movie. ValvE has admitted they have been approached by several studios to make the movie, but have turned them down because they all contain a love story (which is definately not in the game) or other deviation from the plot. I applaud ValvE for not trying to recklessly profit from their franchise and retaining Half Life's credibility, and I hope other companies follow suit. Noone wants to see a beloved game turned into a B-movie.

If there ever was a HL movie, I hope it does for action movies what HL the game did for the FPS genre.

Gonna suck

[Sylver Dragon]

First off, God of War the game, kick all kinds of ass. The movie I expect will blow big donkey dong. For some reason, I can't help but expect that the great storyline (for a video game) of revenge is going to be wrecked in the movie by some stupid love story. We'll see Kratos setting off on a quest of revenge against Ares, only to be caught up in a "not meant to be" love story with some bimbo, probably Athena.
I'll admit, I'd be more likely to enjoy it if they kept the cold, Kratos who kicks ass and just uses women to try to stave off the memories. It'd almost have to be a low budget film, with lots of fight scenes and boobies flopping about.

Hmm.. 5 bucks say they wont.

[AzraelKans]

A lot of people confuse "preproduction" with "coming soon!" release, do you remember the metroid movie? the halo movie, the simpsons movie? all those movies have been greenlighted one way or another, even some directors have thrown their card in the hat, but the chance for seeing those films dome is actually rather slim. First of all theres a ton of projects ahead of them (important projects btw) second the "game to movie" thing is beginning to smell bad to hollywood producers.

It turns out video game fans are much harder to please than expected (duh! big surprise considering the media stereo types them as horny,drunk teenagers going "xtreme!" all the time) and other than them people is not that interested in seing videogame adaptations, On top of that we have to remember the abysmal "Uwe Bowell" phenomenon, people may have laughed in their movies on how bad they are, but producers ending up losing money over them probably werent too amused. Actually Blood rayne is probably stucked in distribution hell due to that.

Also condidering how the "Doomed movie" is turning out, we are probably off that way.

Re:Hmm...

[superpulpsicle]

RE the movie was way better than Mortal Kombat analnation, Mario, Double Dragon, Streetfighter... combined.

Why Make a Movie?

[Irise]

Honestly I don't understand why anyone would think that just because a videogame is popular, it can automatically be turned into a movie. I really liked God of War, but that doesn't mean that I need to see it on a movie screen. Just like I don't care to see it in paperback, on the WB, or hanging in the Louvre. The video game is a completley different medium because it is almost completley interactive, while the movie is not. It is the interactive aspect of videogames that makes them enjoyable. Can you imagine simply watching God of War, Halo, Zelda, or Grand Theft Auto? It wasn't the story behind these games that drew us to them, it was the gameplay. This is why the videogame/movie crossover doesn't work very well and the whole idea should be given up.